


'That' Interview

by TirNanOg89



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, Tag for 'Heroes'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 09:40:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3405950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TirNanOg89/pseuds/TirNanOg89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just how did that interview go?</p>
            </blockquote>





	'That' Interview

That Interview

 

“Come.”

Jack slowly opened General Hammonds door. He knew this was gona be about the jerk.

“You wanted to see me Sir?”

“Yes, have a seat Jack. I’ve just finished talking to Brentman. I’ve watched the film and I have to agree with him, it needs an interview with the 2nd IC to be complete. How can the world possibly get a proper view of this base if they don’t see you? I may run this place on paper Jack but it’s you these airmen would go to hell and back for.” 

Jack perked up at that. Ok, so he knew his men were loyal, it was just nice to hear it from someone else now and then. 

“But Sir, they already know me. Any new recruits get to know me quick enough and the civi’s don’t need to know me.”

Hammond looked at him. The sweet innocent tone and firm set of Jacks jaw told him there wasn’t a cat in hells chance Jack would do this willingly. Ah well, that was the beauty of being a General.

“Colonel.”

Jack tensed and sat even straighter in his chair. ‘Here it comes!’

“I know you don’t like it but you will do it. I am ordering you to go to Brentmans temporary office and attend this interview as soon as you leave this room. And Jack, you will answer his questions civilly. And stop sulking, you’re an Air Force Colonel not a kindergartener!”

“Sir yes Sir! General Sir!”

The textbook salute and retreat told Hammond all he needed to know. Jack would find some way to screw up this interview too!

“God help him.” 

The General muttered to himself.

************ 

It didn’t take Brentman long to realise he was wasting his time. After the third question he gave up and went back to Hammond. Jack grinned as he watched him walk out of the room. Ok, so it was a small victory but a victory all the same. He whistled as he wandered back to his office where he knew the rest of his team were waiting. He wondered how the General would word his next order? Unfortunately for him, General Hammond was already one step ahead of him. Jack walked into his office and grinned at his team. 

“That was quick, what did you do to him?”

Daniel was not happy. Impressed? Hell yes. Happy? No. Jack really did seem to be able to get himself out of anything. Sam thought for a while, and then grinned.

“Name, rank and number?”

Jacks smile spread across his face. Like a schoolboy who finally got it right.

“Yeahsureyabetcha!” 

Teal'c smirked, Sam grinned and Daniel shook his head in despair.

“You do realise you’re gona have to answer him in the end.”

Jacks grin disappeared.

“Maybe, but I don’t have to make it easy.”

“Jack, seriously, what is your problem with the guy?”

Jack looked at Daniels confused face for a while, and then answered.

“Nothing. I don’t have a problem with him at all. I have a problem with political assholes trying to use my men. Every day we ask them to go out there and trust us, to fight for this planet and probably die. We’ve got good men and so far we’ve been lucky. Considering the odds against us we should all be dead by now. Hammond just said these people would follow me through hell. Well they already have, more often than I care to remember. I will not repay that by leaving them open to bastards like Kinsey. This isn’t about us! How we put our lives on the line every time we step through that Gate! It’s about how many votes some asshole can get by saying ‘look what I did’. Well they did shit! It’s my men that get shot, sliced, maimed and killed and I will not condone it. They get ordered to cooperate and have no choice. I can fight the bastards every step of the way and by god I will!”

SG1 sat in stunned silence for a while. They knew how strongly Jack felt for his men but it was very rare that he showed it so passionately. 

“You do know that Brentman’s on our side, right?”

“Yeah Danny, but others aren’t. Kinsey is already putting his own spin on the whole thing.” 

Jacks tired smile and comment made the team sit and think for a moment. Then almost jump out of their skin when the phone rang. As soon as Jack answered it they knew who it was.

“ Yes Sir, I’ll be there immediately.”

He replaced the handset and looked at his team, muttering as he left.

“Round two.”

************** 

Jack walked into the interview room and almost walked straight back out. General Hammond sat right next to Brentman with an altogether too smug grin.

“Sir?”

The grin only got worse with Jacks almost timid query.

“Jack! I thought I’d keep you company, moral support you understand.”

Jack understood all right. Only years of military training allowed Jack to hold in the pouting and stamping of feet in his frustration. 

“Thank you Sir.”

The lack of sincerity, and abundance of sarcasm, in his voice only made Hammond grin more. Jack sat down with a sigh. He knew when he was outmanoeuvred. Brentman looked slightly amused but obviously had the sense not to push his luck.

“So Colonel O’Neill, tell us what you do at the SGC.”

Jack was almost stunned at that. At every attempted interview so far Brentman had gone straight for the nasty questions. ‘Why wont you talk to me?’ ‘What’s your relationship with your team?’ And he’d got the nasty answers too.

“Well, I’m second in command of the base and CO of SG1.”

“Right, by CO you Commanding officer yes?” 

“Yes.”

Jacks drawn out answer and glare left little to the imagination. He was not impressed with the stating of the obvious.

“So, what are your main duties as commander of a team like SG1?”

Jack liked this less and less but one look at Hammond let him know he had no choice. 

“I take them out, they do their thing, and I bring them back.”

Brentman grinned at that.

“That can’t be easy from what I’ve heard about Dr Jackson and Major Carter.”

Jack glared at him and the temperature in the room dropped at least ten degrees.

“I mean they appear to find trouble easily. They both seem to have a knack of finding things they shouldn’t touch.”

Jack relaxed back in his seat, a little. 

“Not always.”

Brentman sighed. It was obvious he had messed that up. Time to try a new tact.

“Right. What does the second in command do on a base like this?”

Jack very nearly let slip ‘wouldn’t know, I’m never here’ but knew it would look bad on the General.

“Not a lot with a CO like General Hammond. I keep an eye on the place when he wants a break.”

“So what makes this base different to your usual military base, aside from the obvious?”

Jack watched Brentmans eyes as he asked the question. He saw nothing but honest curiosity there and decided it was time to capitulate and get this over with.

“The main difference is the level of secrecy. You can’t talk about everything you do on a normal base but this takes it a couple of steps further. Everyone here was well acquainted with ‘national security’ and ‘eyes only’ level secrecy before they got here. The existence of alien life is a hell of a secret. The war we’re stuck in is even more so. There is obviously a lot of temptation to spill. The academics in particular have come up with Nobel Prize worthy work and can’t tell anyone. We also have more civilians than normal for a USAF base. The secrecy makes everyone closer. There’s nobody else to talk to, so we talk to each other. Most of the senior officers and some of the civilians have been here since the beginning.”

Brentman waited quietly for a while until it became obvious Jack had finished.

“I’ve heard a lot of people refer to the base as home.”

He saw Jack almost nod involuntarily at that.

“What do you think about that?”

Jack glared at him and he could have sworn the temperature dropped again.

“It’s perfectly normal.”

“I know, but what do you think?”

Brentmans job was to read people; he could see Jack finally accepting him and his work. He was still shocked by Jacks almost defiant answer.

“It is home. This is my family. For a lot of us this is the only family we have.”

“Some officers say it’s too dangerous to let a team get close. How would you respond to that?”

“I use to think the same. A close team will think of each other before the mission. It’s bad for business. And if their mission happens to be catching a foreign drug baron who will more than likely be let go within a month then yeah, maybe. But when you know the fate of the planet is resting on your mission it gives you a little perspective.”

Brentman looked at him for a while. It was one thing to read a report about ‘saving the planet’, but very much another to hear a man speak of it, the soft-spoken sincerity sending a shiver down his spine. 

“You may not hear this much Colonel, but as a part of that planet, thank you.”

Brentman damn near laughed at the blush on Jacks face. His tiny grin of pleasure and total lack of guile almost making him look like a child. How could a man with his past look so happy and innocent over a mere ‘thank you’? 

“It’s what we get paid for.”

It was so obviously an attempt to cover his embarrassment that Brentman just smiled.

“Thank you again Colonel, and thank you for sparing the time for this interview. I wont keep you any longer.”

Only Hammond knew Jack well enough to recognise the shock and relief on his face. It had been easy and almost painless! The General shook his head. He knew Jacks reasons but if he hadn’t been so stubborn it would have been over weeks ago. But then, if Jack weren’t so stubborn he and his team would probably be dead, so he could deal with it. 

After Jack left Hammond looked at Brentman.

“I take it you can use this?”

“Definitely!”

“And the security tape from the Colonels office?”

“Oh yeah!”

“I will leave it at your disposal. I trust I don’t have to mention the consequences of any form of misuse of anything you have here?”

If he hadn't before he sure did now, the look on his face was near enough to make Brentman want to run screaming. And he had read Jacks file, some of it, and wouldn’t want to piss him off. 

“Yes Sir, I’ve read his file, he knows way too many ways to kill me.”

General Hammond laughed and clapped him on the back as they left the room.

“Oh yeah, and you don’t know the half of it. Though personally I’d be more worried about the rest of SG1.”

As they parted the General was still chuckling and Brentman gave a shiver. Brentman was happy though, he had finally got the full story and his film would be finished.

Perfectus!


End file.
